Tag Archives: weight

As a fat guy among many fears a big one is getting yourself parked in an airline seat. I usually fly with BMI as their seat belts apparently are longer and you can book an aisle seat in advance so its stops the red face when it does not meet in the middle. I have always wondered how a seemingly helpful stewardess can wait for that an entire plane of 250+ passengers to be quiet before she or he announces Sir would you like a seat belt extension? in a loud voice and holding it up that orange extension belt. Everyone has a look and then to add insult to injury they ask Do you know how to work it? Here is the thing its probably not that loud its probably in my head but none the less its embarrassing.

Having just secured a new client in Northern Ireland whom my first visit to was last week you can imagine my joy when he sent through my airline tickets. You guest it Easy Jet. My fears started when I opened the email, first thought seat belts, second thought arm rest, third thought will the plane be full will I get a spare seat beside me? So what should be a huge positive i.e. new client paying my expenses etc was now beginning to be a nightmare in my head.

However I had forgotten I have now lost nearly 5 stone (70lbs,31kg) since I was last on an Easy Jet flight. While waiting in line to board the aircraft and of course with Easy Jet there is no seat allocation you just fight with the rest of the passengers to get what seat you want ( Easy Jet call it first come first served not fight in fairness but you get the scene) My first check is the amount of people I see in the line I have mentally counted 120 that means spare seats, that's good that means take an aisle seat and at worst no one will sit in the middle one and at worst someone will sit in the window sit. Lets face it no one wants to sit beside a fat guy on a flight do you? My heart was still racing and all my fears of the past where in my head mind and soul, I am really at this point not in a good place.

I get on board about 30th to board the plane and get an aisle seat hurray is the cry in my mind. I sit down with all the normal fears and try to fasten the belt, then my head realizes the arm rest is not attached to my backside or pushing into my belly. Then the seat belt clicks shut without a problem, so at this point feeling lucky I pull down the table and it does not hit my belly so for five minutes I sit with the biggest grin on my face like the cat that got the cream that kind of great feeling. Then someone had the audacity to break this feeling by asking may I have the the window seat? I said boldly why not have the aisle I will move to the window seat to which they were very happy. I sat in that window seat like it was all my Birthdays and Christmas,s rolled into one.

Past fears control a lot of how we act and behave I am learning that while I have lots more weight to lose things are changing for the better but my subconscious mind has not yet caught up with my reducing sized body. I am back in Northern Ireland next with the same airline bring it on

For those of you that know me I have had a long struggle with my weight and have always felt that it has hindered me over the years. I have smiled and shrugged it off and convinced myself that's how it is, I am a big guy and that's okay. On many occasions over the years when I have started to lose weight, people close to me, meaning well of course have said don't lose to much we love you the way you are, which of course helps when you decide not to continue on the program. Anyway before you stop reading thinking I not interested in his story of weight loss, I drew the comparison to business as realistically the same rules apply.

I refused for a few months to accept how big I was getting so would not go near the scales, in business we tend to hide from the real facts about why our business is not moving forward to scared or willing to accept things may not be as good as we think they were.I phrase I love to use with clients is "See things how they are not worse than they are" because at least once you know where you are you can take action in the right direction.

Of course when I was saying this I was thinking well you are not prepared to accept that principal about your weight. So on the 23rd of June this year I decided that enough was enough and something had to change. I knew as we do about our businesses that we are responsible when it comes to the state they are in whether good or bad and trying the blame game does not wash. But what really counts in all of this is the why.

As a business owner you need to have a why and as someone wanting to change their life by losing weight its the same. On days when life or business are hard, because everyone gets days like these, if your why is big enough you will keep going. With my weight I had never given it a big enough why or had the right accountability partner to help me focus on the outcome, rather the every day thinking about what I could not eat. This is the same as business. Business owners think if they sell more that solves everything, and yes sales are a good thing but what if you are not selling profitably then sales are not the answer hence why we need to be honest to ourselves and look at the facts.

So I did with my weight stepping on the scales I have to admit I was fearful, why because in my heart of hearts I knew where I would be roughly but just up until that point did not want to accept it. Embarrassment that a so called accountability coach could let himself get into such a state. I also knew I was the only person that good draw a line in the sand and get reality and move forward. I also have a great coach Kevin Hall of Dan Bradbury who has been an inspiration, and Lucy Long who has never given up on me,but I found my why and accountability partner and she is the best.

I am 48 years of age and my wife Val and I had children later in life in fact 3 in the last 4 years, Morag 4 , Heather 2 and my son Angus being born some 22 weeks ago.Sitting in a church paying respects to my friend James Cruickshank who was taken from us to early at 67 I realized that when Angus was 21 I would be 69 and I have always liked a party so I am going to be at his 21st, however not if I continued on the path I am and that scared me. Morag and I had a chat and I made her my accountability coach. I told her that the weekend of her birthday in August her and I would go swimming and that Daddy would be losing his tummy, you are now thinking he has really lost it. Well if you think I am going to let my daughter down you can forget it, how could I ever ask her to see something throw, try new things be patient stick in at school if I don't do what I said I will do? I could never look her in the eye again. ( By the way Val and I took Morag and Heather swimming the last weekend in August it was great fun and a huge barrier for me gone through)

The results of the scales were 26 stones and 6lbs or 370 pounds or 167.829 KG no matter what scale of measurement you put these figures in they are not attractive. The great thing is I had told myself the truth and now I could move forward by doing the right things, which is exactly what we can do in business. My first week was a breeze as with everything new, the second week I was away to London for 3 days this is the critical time, but oh yes I had that new accountability coach. Every time I thought might just have a drink or a piece of chocolate Morag would appear in my head as I cannot let her down. On my return I had lost weight first time ever.

I am heading to Newcastle tomorrow to begin a new chapter of this story and I am scared, I have to date lost 3 stone 10 lbs(19.0508kg or 42 pounds) I am going to write a daily journal with updates and let you know the good the bad and the ugly. Have you got a big enough why and have you got your team in place to get started? whether in your business or life change is scary working with a team is less so. The biggest learning for me so far is telling people how they can help and guess what they have and I appreciate everyone of you. Go on ask for help you will be amazed what you can achieve.